The 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational gets underway in Akron on Thursday morning with a star-studded field from around the world. The classic American parklands course is playing at 7400 yards and Firestone will being a two-week stretch where all the best players in the world are in attendance. In the morning wave, Ernie Els will make his first appearance since his Open win at Lytham. He will be paired with 2012 Masters champ Bubba Watson, going off No. 1 at 9:30 a.m. ET. Phil Mickelson will be playing with world No. 1 Luke Donald at 10 a.m. ET.
Golf Channel will provide an extra hour of coverage from Firestone South before the weekend. The broadcast will come on the air at 2 p.m. ET and run until 6 p.m. ET. This limited-field event is loaded from start to finish, and the best strategy is often to post up at one hole and watch as each group comes through. But if you're into following Tiger Woods, he'll be going off in the afternoon on No. 1 at 1:50 p.m. ET. A complete schedule of tee times for Thursday:
Morning wave off No. 1:
| 8:40 am | Bae, Sang-Moon | Donaldson, Jamie |
| 8:50 am | Goosen, Retief | Wiesberger, Bernd |
| 9:00 am | Lawrie, Paul | Muto, Toshinori |
| 9:10 am | Chalmers, Greg | Rock, Robert |
| 9:20 am | Allenby, Robert | Haas, Bill |
| 9:30 am | Potter, Jr., Ted | Kim, K.T. |
| 9:40 am | Wagner, Johnson | Schwartzel, Charl |
| 9:50 am | Johnson, Zach | Singh, Jeev Milkha |
| 10:00 am | Crane, Ben | Rose, Justin |
| 10:10 am | Garcia, Sergio | Van Pelt, Bo |
Morning wave off No. 10:
| 8:40 am | Jacobson, Fredrik | Fdez-Castano, Gonzalo |
| 8:50 am | Pettersson, Carl | Siem, Marcel |
| 9:00 am | Lewis, Tom | Hoey, Michael |
| 9:10 am | Fujimoto, Yoshinori | Hanson, Peter |
| 9:20 am | Na, Kevin | Leishman, Marc |
| 9:30 am | Els, Ernie | Watson, Bubba |
| 9:40 am | Kuchar, Matt | Scott, Adam |
| 9:50 am | Bradley, Keegan | Dufner, Jason |
| 10:00 am | Mickelson, Phil | Donald, Luke |
| 10:10 am | Fowler, Rickie | Westwood, Lee |
Afternoon wave off No. 1:
| 12:30 pm | Jaidee, Thongchai | Piercy, Scott |
| 12:40 pm | Colsaerts, Nicolas | Willett, Danny |
| 12:50 pm | Taniguchi, Toru | Senden, John |
| 1:00 pm | Watney, Nick | Yang, Y.E. |
| 1:10 pm | Kaymer, Martin | Stricker, Steve |
| 1:20 pm | McIlroy, Rory | Ishikawa, Ryo |
| 1:30 pm | Mahan, Hunter | Oosthuizen, Louis |
| 1:40 pm | Johnson, Dustin | Quiros, Alvaro |
| 1:50 pm | Woods, Tiger | Grace, Branden |
| 2:00 pm | McDowell, Graeme | Snedeker, Brandt |
Afternoon wave off No. 10:
| 12:30 pm | Cabrera Bello, Rafael | Dyson, Simon |
| 12:40 pm | Laird, Martin | Slattery, Lee |
| 12:50 pm | Luiten, Joost | Bekker, Oliver |
| 1:00 pm | Molinari, Francesco | Poulter, Ian |
| 1:10 pm | Stanley, Kyle | Bjorn, Thomas |
| 1:20 pm | Baddeley, Aaron | Toms, David |
| 1:30 pm | Day, Jason | Furyk, Jim |
| 1:40 pm | Wilson, Mark | Choi, K.J. |
| 1:50 pm | Byrd, Jonathan | Ogilvy, Geoff |
For complete coverage of the 2012 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, stay with this StoryStream. For all your golf news in the run up to the season's final major, visit SB Nation's golf hub.